Rosy, The Pink Dolphin
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 27th, 2009
Some might be tempted to throw the “Pinky” moniker in the direction of this beautiful animal, but that hardly befits this fine specimen. The vividly colored creature would be most properly called le dauphin rose, the pink dolphin, around New Orleans. So let’s just call her “Rosy.”
This photo provided by Stephen Fournet of Lafayette, La., and taken on May 18, 2009 shows an albino dolphin, left and a darker dolphin in the lower Calcasieu Ship Channel south of Lake Charles, La. Biologist say albino dolphins are rare _ the Lake Charles animal is just the 14th reliably reported worldwide, and the third in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Courtesy Stephen Fournet)
In this Dec. 5, 2007 photo released by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, an albino dolphin calf follows an adult, in the Calcasieu Ship Channel in La. The dolphin is still often seen in the channel south of Lake Charles, near the western edge of Louisiana. Biologist say albino dolphins are rare _ the Lake Charles animal is just the 14th reliably reported worldwide, and the third in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Michael Harbison)
Other photos of “Rosy” have been released before 2009, as well, from Louisiana:
But readers and viewers beware! Some websites and lazy news services are posting “pink dolphins” from other parts of the world and passing them off as the “real deal” from Louisiana.
For example, you’ll find these albinos or pink species:
Amazon River Dolphin (or Boto), Inia geoffrensis
Yangtze River Dolphin or Chinese River Dolphin (or Baiji), Lipotes vexillifer (functionally extinct, since December 2006)
Hong Kong “pink dolphin,” probably Chinese White Dolphin, Sousa chinensis chinensis
But the bottlenose dolphin from Louisiana, below, has a distinctively different snout, of course, than the ones from Asian and the Amazon.
Rosy, a Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus.
Janet McConnaughey has written a fine new summary piece on “Rosy,” but, of course, the photographs literally speak a thousand words each.
Here’s the article, for background info:
What’s pink, has red eyes and leaps around a Louisiana shipping channel long enough for you to believe your eyes?
A rare albino bottlenose dolphin.
Bottlenose dolphins are common in the lower Calcasieu Ship Channel, feeding in the deep water and riding on top of boats’ waves. And when the pink one jumps amid four dark gray dolphins, it’s easy to spot.
The albino is just the 14th reported worldwide, and the third in the Gulf of Mexico, according to biologist Dagmar Fertl of Plano, Texas.
It was first reported by Wesley Lockard of Rayville, La., as a small calf in June 2007. Lockard, 26, said he and family members were fishing when they were stunned by the sight. “Something comes up and you say, `Wow! Did I just …?’ Then he comes up again and you say, `Yeah! I just saw a pink dolphin!'” he said.
Now, the mammal is as much a part of the channel south of Lake Charles as boats and fishermen.
“We see him on a pretty regular basis,” said Roddy Blackburn, crewman and relief captain of a boat that ferries pilots to ships.
But spotting the pink one, believed to be about 2 1/2 years old, does take time. Michael Harbison, a state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist, has seen it several times, but only when he wasn’t looking for it. He spent two trips—one for 10 hours—trying to locate it but didn’t see the dolphin.
The albino is usually seen with four adults, and probably splits time between the Gulf and the lower 10 miles of the ship channel, said Harbison. Typically, dolphins surface for a second or so to breathe, then dive for up to 10 minutes, moving a half-mile or more, he said.
Five days after the initial sighting was reported nearly two years ago, the dolphin was seen again.
For 90 minutes, fisherman Randy Smith watched the dolphin leap alongside an adult they assumed was its mother.
“It was unbelievable,” said Smith, who was returning from a Gulf fishing trip with friends when he saw the dolphin.
Many people refer to the dolphin as a male, though its sex is unknown.
Biologist Mandy Tumlin of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries hopes more people will report sightings and give officials as much detail as possible. But they should stay at least 50 yards away and limit themselves to a half-hour of watching to keep the animals from getting too comfortable with people and boats, she said.
No specific studies are planned, but sightings will help the department track the animal.
“As rare as this is, we’re trying to get as much as we can (about) this one individual,” she said. “We definitely want to protect it and keep it safe.”
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Beautiful creature! Hope it does well.
I just showed my wife and she (being on the phone at the time) squealed the “that is so cute” squeal and had to explain what happened to the person on the other end. I hope the albino does well.
Fortunately it spends most of its time underwater, so it won’t have to worry about being sunburnt.
I wonder if it will have any problems finding a mate later in life due to its off colorness?
“They call her Rosy, Rosy, Rosy, faster than lightning…” 🙂
What a fantastic animal.
But… I think the images might be altered with Photoshop, to enhance the pink color of the dolphin.